I don’t know if you know it or not, but I have taken a gig writing at SB Nation D.C., a Washington D.C. focused sports blog that is part of the SBNation.com family of sports blogs. Anyway, if you’re reading this and you are either a D.C. sports fan or interested in the train wreck that is Daniel Snyder you should read this piece I wrote up on an interview he just did with Fox Sports. Snyder never ceases to amaze me.

Or not, whatever.

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.

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Read the rest of this entry

Yesterday Brian Westbrook sat down with the NFL Players Association for an interview about his offseason and his career.  In this interview, B-West had a few things to say about the Redskins and his offseason visits with teams and a couple things he said really stuck out to me.  First:

Q: How did your recent visit with the Washington Redskins go?

A: It went really well. I enjoyed them and the coaching staff. I’d love to be a part of that organization. They have a quality organization—I just have to find out if I can fit into their system.

Ok, nothing super interesting there, just typical “Please sign me!” type stuff, except for the fitting into the system thing.  I think what he’s really saying is that he’s not sure he wants to split carries with the “Return of the 2005 Running backs SUPER STARS!” backfield the Redskins currently have on their roster.  Apparently he’s not sold on Mike Shanahan’s VOLTRON theory on old running backs…neither am I.

Let us continue…

Q: Being from the Washington, D.C. area and playing your high school ball at DeMatha, how special would it be if you were to play here?

A: Of course it would be special to play in your hometown, where you were born and raised and still live. Of course it would be special to be on a team with a winning tradition.

Wait a minute here, a winning tradition?  In Washington DC?  Maybe if he’s talking about DeMatha but I’m not sure he really believes that the Redskins really have a great winning tradition.  Sure from 1971-1976 they made the playoffs for 5 out of 6 years.  Also, we all know what they did in the 80s and early 90s…but since 1992, this team has made the playoffs just 3 times.  3 times in 18 years.  Hell of a tradition there, huh?

This team has been in DC since 1937, do know how many times they’ve made the playoffs since they arrived in Washington?  22 times.  Yes, just 22 times in over 75 years.  As a comparison, the Dallas Cowboys didnt come into existance until 1960 and you know how many times they’ve been to the playoffs?  30…in almost 30 less years.  Winning tradition in DC?  Hah!

Lets move on, here’s what else he said about the Redskins: Read the rest of this entry

It’s been a week since I last posted.  I know that after my Preakness article, there were some rumors that I was killed by Hurricane Ike in a tragic horseracing “accident,” but let’s face facts: the Maryland Jockey Club wouldn’t want ever want to risk bad press, would they?  In any case, in the words of the immortal Jeffrey Atkins: I’m not always there when you call, but I’m always on time.  At least with headlines.  On to them: 

• After admitting to blood doping during most of his career, Floyd Landis accused Lance Armstrong of doing the same.  

I realize Lance Armstrong is a once-in-a-lifetime athlete who kicked cancer’s ass then became the most dominant competitor in the history of his sport.  And for some reason, I really dislike him.  Just rubs me the wrong way.  HOWEVER, Floyd Landis is a complete and utter fraud.  The guy’s a liar.  At this point, I don’t think I’d be surprised if I found out Mother Theresa was on PEDs (nor would I care), but Floyd is pathetic.  Leave Lance alone – don’t be jealous just because he’s friends with the world’s best bro. 

• Washington Redskins receiver Santana Moss was linked to a Canadian doctor charged with “making false statements to federal officials, smuggling, unlawful distribution of human growth hormone (HGH), introducing the unapproved drug, called actovegin, into interstate commerce and conspiracy to defraud the United States.”    

The poor Redskins can’t even win when they cheat — that’s embarassing.  However, I’m going to choose to look at this positively: Santana Moss was so devoted to his terrible, dysfunctional team that he was willing to risk his career, health, reputation and money in the hopes he could be slightly mediocre for a team owned by Dan Snyder and coached by Jim Zorn.  That’s dedication, holmes.

• Soccer legend and current Argentina coach Diego Maradona “apologised” for running over the foot of a cameraman outside of Buenos Aires. 

Ok, I have an unrelated point to make here, but let me get the jokes out of the way first.  Maradona ran over the cameraman’s foot because a) He had a hot pizza in the passenger’s seat and was in a hurry to eat it; b) He had an eight ball in the passenger’s seat and was in a hurry to snort it; or c) he had both in his car but was in a hurry because he didn’t pay taxes on either of them. 

Now that that’s out of the way: don’t you hate it when Americans take British expressions and attempt to use them in regular conversation?  I’m not saying they’re wrong or inappropriate, but they just make you sound pretentious and if I’m British, I’d think you’re a jerk.  Most Brits probably think that already, but just because Guy Ritchie and Austin Powers made some popular British-themed movies 10 years ago that EVERYONE saw doesn’t mean you can roll around and drop “over the moon” or “preggers” or “flat.”  Stop it.   

• Delonte West, teammate of LeBron, and Gloria James, mother of LeBron, reportedly engaged in a romantic relationship.  

This is like a combination of “American Pie” and “Desperado.”  If I’m LeBron, I’m super heated, but what are you gonna do?  Delonte rolls like Antonio Banderas: on a motorcycle with a loaded shotty in a guitar case slung across his back and two sidearms just in case the banditos get too close.  Bron-Bron’s Mom likes the bad-boys… 

• Seven-time Pro-Bowl linebacker Zach Thomas signed a one-day, $1 contract in order to retire as a member of the Miami Dolphins. 

First: does he ever get the dollar?  Second, these stories are stupid.  Just because Emmitt Smith did the same thing means we’re supposed to forget he played for Arizona?  Or that Jerry Rice never laced them up for Seattle?  And what’s the significance of a one-day contract?  Do you hang out there for a day, sweep the floors, wash a load of jock straps and call it a day?  Just give the guy his plaque at halftime of a game next season and be done with it.  There wasn’t anything symbolic about the way you cut the guy when he was expensive and hurt.  Why start now?

•  The Washington Wizards won the NBA lottery. 

The Curse of Les Boulez is over!  Until JeVale McGee sleeps with John Wall’s mom. 

• Brett Favre told his alma mater’s baseball team that if they make the College World Series for the second consecutive year, he’ll return to the Minnesota Vikings.

Brett is akin to an attractive girl you date who also happens to be a gigantic flake.  She’s never on time, always changes her plans based on a whim, will initiate a text conversation with you then disappear for 9 hours… Yet, she is insanely hot and when you’re around her, she can do no wrong.  Unfortunately, she drives YOU insane but you can’t break up with her because you’re worried you’ll end up with a girl that looks like Sage Rosenfels or Tavaris Jackson and they won’t be half as good at throwing a post pattern.  Or something like that…

I must say I am thoroughly enjoying Favre’s wanton disregard for the feelings of Brad Childress, the Minnesota Vikings, and the NFL.  You know there’s some diehard at NFL headquarters flipping out over his disrespect for “the League.”  Although this bet could be a blessing in disguise for the rest of us: if the team makes it, we’re spared a summer of Rachel Nichols standing on Farve’s lawn telling us nothing.

Have a wild weekend.  I’ll be out on a motorcycle, guitar case slung across my back, looking for Salma.

Much to Bud Selig’s dismay, yesterday, the Washington Redskins took a really old-looking Donovan McNabb and paraded him before their belabored fanbase (Anybody else notice the moustache and receding hairline?  Maybe Shanahan and Bruce Allen should have insisted upon a face-to-face before they pulled the trigger on a trade for a guy who Deadspin referred to as ”Carl Winslow”).  Fans were excited duped enough to play “arts and crafts” with old Heath Shuler jerseys, Joe Theismann took NFL Analyst Hyperbole to new levels, and the team found itself back where it usually is this time of year: spending wildly on older players who have seen better days.  Shocker.  Anyway, the Redskins made a big deal about it.  Donovan talked a lot like a scorned ex-boyfriend.  Here’s the Redskin fantasy.  Below that is the reality. 

The quarterback holding the burgundy No. 5 Washington Redskins jersey was Donovan McNabb. From everything that was said, it might have been simpler to just go ahead and call him John Elway II.

The six-time Pro Bowl star was formally introduced Tuesday at Redskins Park. All things being equal, he would rather be preparing for a 12th season with the Philadelphia Eagles, but an Easter Sunday trade between NFC East rivals has opened what he called “a new chapter in the book of Donovan.”

“I’ve always believed in finishing where you started,” McNabb said. “I think there’s a lot to be said with that. Not a lot of quarterbacks in this league are able to do that these days. Sometimes change is better. Sometimes you’re forced into change. I would have loved to [stay in Philadelphia], but it didn’t happen.”

Instead, he is with the Redskins and new coach Mike Shanahan, and both went to great lengths to say that trading two draft picks for a 33-year-old quarterback with a few nicks is a solid investment.

“I’m turning 34 this year,” McNabb said. “And [Shanahan] finished John’s career with two Super Bowls. Hopefully I can continue to follow behind that… People were saying John Elway should retire,” Shanahan said, “until he won the Super Bowl.”

Before the pursuit of such lofty goals, there were the necessary reflections and thank yous from McNabb to Philadelphia. Most of his words for his former team and city were upbeat and gracious — “I felt I was treated fair” — with maybe a slight dig or two thrown in.  Surprisingly, McNabb said he has spoken “not much” about the trade with Andy Reid, his coach for his entire tenure with the Eagles. He portrayed himself as fallout from a Philadelphia youth movement.

“They’re [Philadelphia] rebuilding, and they’re going young,” McNabb said. “So I never knew 33 years old was old, but I guess I’m too old.”